Land of Gallon - Customary Units of Measurement for Capacity

Introducing capacity measurement to learners can be challenging. To make this topic more accessible and memorable, we can integrate creative and interactive activities into our teaching approach. Using storytelling, we can transform the sometimes daunting task of learning measurement conversions into a whimsical tale.

In the Land of Gallon, there were four giant Queens.

Each Queen had a Prince and a Princess.

Each Prince and Princess had two children.

The two children were twins, and they were eight years old.

You can download the story and the pieces to use when telling it by clicking the image below.

Once students are familiar with the story be sure they see the connection between the story characters and the customary units of capacity measurement. If necessary, label the story pieces with their corresponding units of measure: queen = quart, prince/princess = pint, children = cups, 8 years old = 8 fluid ounces. You can reduce the number of customary units in the story based on student readiness. 

Be sure to explicitly show students how this story can help them to remember the following conversions:

4 quarts = 1 gallon

2 pints = 1 quart

2 cups = 1 pint

8 fluid ounces = 1 cup

8 pints = 1 gallon

16 cups = 1 gallon

128 fluid ounces = 1 gallon

You may have seen different versions of this story. Have students change it up to make it their own. Instead of the children being twins who were 8 years old, maybe they each had 8 toys or 8 frogs. Allow students to own the story by adding their own creativity.

Storytelling is one way to engage the brain during math class. "After a period of intense learning, storytelling enables the brain to relax and facilitates the retention of newly acquired material (Jensen 2000)." Give it a try!

Looking for additional reinforcement for capacity conversions? Click the image to check out these user-friendly task cards.